Canada’s New PM Mark Carney Responds to Trump: “Canada Will Never Be Part of the USA”

Mark Carney Elected Leader of Canada’s Liberal Party, Set to Succeed Trudeau

Mark Carney has been elected leader of Canada’s Liberal Party after a months-long, high-stakes race to replace Justin Trudeau.

He will now lead the party into the next federal elections, which must be held before October, where he is expected to face strong competition from the Conservative Party, currently leading in the polls.

While Carney assumes leadership of the Liberal Party immediately, Trudeau will remain as Canada’s prime minister for an undisclosed transitional period to ensure a smooth handover.

The election comes amid ongoing tensions with the US, where President Donald Trump has repeatedly blamed Canada for illegal immigration, threatened to turn Canada into a 51st state, and imposed steep tariffs on Canadian imports. The White House claims these measures are necessary to curb the flow of fentanyl across the border.

In his first remarks after the vote, Carney addressed the strained US-Canada relations, vowing that his government would “create new trading relationships with reliable trading partners.”

He also vowed to keep retaliatory tariffs on the US “until the Americans show us respect.”

“New threats demand new ideas and a new plan,” he told the Liberal Party convention on Sunday.

“Canada will never be part of the US“

Slamming the Trump administration’s tariff plans, Carney said of the US president, “He’s attacking Canadian families, workers, and businesses and we cannot let him succeed and we won’t.”

“In trade as in hockey, Canada will win,” he added.

The ripple effects of the tense relations with the U.S. have spread through Canadian society, with fans at NHL and NBA games in Canada even booing the U.S. national anthem.

Carney will now face off with Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, who has previously been compared to Trump but now seeks to distance himself from the U.S. leader, reiterating at a press conference earlier this week that he is “not MAGA.”

At a rally on Sunday ahead of the Liberal vote, Poilievre delivered scathing remarks about Carney, a former governor of both the Bank of England and the Bank of Canada, portraying him as a leader ill-equipped to deal with Trump.

“Working for Trudeau, Carney made Canada weaker and poorer; working for himself Carney made the United States richer and stronger,” Poilievre said.

In his remarks following the results of the vote, Carney shot back at his conservative opponent.

“Donald Trump thinks he can weaken us with his plan to divide and conquer. Pierre Poilievre’s plan will leave us divided and ready to be conquered,” Carney said.

In some of his last remarks as Liberal Party leader, Trudeau warned on Sunday that Canadians face an “existential challenge” from the U.S.

“This is a nation-defining moment,” he told the Liberal leadership convention in Ottawa, ahead of Carney being announced as his successor.

“And now, as Canadians face from our neighbor an existential challenge, an economic crisis, Canadians are showing exactly what we are made of,” Trudeau said.